With the advent of wireless communications, it is now possible for utility companies to continuously monitor and control services accessed by individual households and corporate users from a centralized facility. Besides significantly reducing the expense and difficulties associated with traditional in-person monitoring of utility usage, wireless utility monitoring and control systems allow for the implementation of additional capabilities that previously were too difficult or expensive to implement on an economically viable scale.
The distribution of electrical power is one particular area where wireless monitoring and control is particularly advantageous. Almost every home or business has an electrical meter that must be monitored, not only for billing generation, but also for the detection of faults and unauthorized consumption. Wireless systems allow for continuous and specific monitoring and control of individual customers within a very large distribution system without an undue amount of human intervention. Consumption is efficiently monitored and billed, faults quickly detected, and unauthorized users identified, all from a centralized location. In the case of unauthorized users, power can be terminated or reduced directly by wireless command.
In addition, wireless monitoring and control gives an electricity provider the ability to effectively control the load on its distribution grid during periods of high demand by managing the distribution of power to individual consumers or groups of consumers. Rolling “brown-outs” or “black-outs” can be pinpoint managed such that critical facilities (e.g., hospitals) are maintained while power to less critical facilities (e.g., individual households) can distributed on an equitable basis. At an even lower level of control, power to specific appliances, such as air conditioners, can be managed to reduce demand on the power grid.
The wireless monitoring and control systems currently available to utility companies are subject to some significant disadvantages. Among other things, most utility companies still maintain their own wireless communications networks for communicating with the meters. These systems are often limited in efficiency and cost effectiveness. Moreover, unauthorized users are often still able to circumvent the controls placed on their meters.